Headlines reported two widespread illnesses on this date: dysentery dredged up from the Black River in 1924, and encroaching polio infections in 1949. Two area sentencings also made headlines, one of them for a horrific double homicide in Pemiscot County.
100 years ago
Aug. 1, 1924
• A “mild epidemic” of dysentery has brought Poplar Bluff’s water filtration system back into the spotlight.
City physician Dr. I.N. Barnett reminded residents of the city’s need for settling basins to better filter mud and debris. When the Black River is high and turbulent, as it was this week, the current dredges up more sediment and bacteria than the city’s current purification system can handle.
• A young porch pirate was sentenced to six years in prison today for multiple thefts.
Theodore Roosevelt Taylor, 18, of Poplar Bluff confessed to stealing rugs off three Poplar Bluff porches and breaking into two homes and a business to steal household devices, jewelry and merchandise. The latest crime was a break-in at Fourth Street Bargain Store early yesterday morning, where $150 of mens’ clothes and shoes were stolen. Taylor was arrested yesterday afternoon when officers spotted him with some of the loot.
Several missing items were located at local second-hand stores. One owner told police Taylor regularly stopped by with items to sell.
Taylor was previously in trouble with the law for stealing a horse and buggy.
75 years ago
Aug. 1, 1949
• Poplar Bluff Hospital is prepping its new 10-bed isolation ward for polio patients after two new infections were reported.
Shirley Barham of Qulin and Anthony White of Neelyville, both 3 years old, were diagnosed with polio within the last 24 hours. They were taken to St. Francis Hospital in Cape Girardeau for treatment. Two previous cases — Verlie Pennington of Qulin and Lowell Voyles of Neelyville — were treated in St. Louis earlier this summer. Pennington remains hospitalized.
Ansel Moore, chairman of the Butler County Infantile Paralysis Committee, said the county’s iron lung was being moved into Poplar Bluff Hospital and specialists from St. Louis were coming to train additional staff in its operation. The iron lung was purchased through community fundraising and is stored at a funeral home when not in use.
50 years ago
Aug. 1, 1974
• After over 10 years of trials and appeals, a judge sentenced James “Buddy” Williams to three life terms in prison for a sexual assault and double homicide in Pemiscot County.
Brenda Rains, 17, of Holland and her fiancé Frank Craig, 18, of Blytheville, Arkansas, were murdered in 1961. Williams, now 44, was first convicted in 1962 for slaying Rains and sentenced to death. The case was dismissed after the Missouri Supreme Court ruled the trial judged erred in his directions to the jury. Williams then waived his right to a new trial and pleaded guilty to all charges, but in 1970 the Supreme Court upheld another appeal stating the pleas were entered by his attorneys without his understanding.
Scott County Circuit Judge Stanley Grimm handed down the sentence this week after overruling Williams’ motion for a new trial. His attorneys plan to appeal this latest ruling.